1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to therapy of the temporomandibular joint and particularly to a method and apparatus for providing therapeutic treatment of the joint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surgery is often required to correct internal derangements of the temporomandibular joint. Post-operative care has varied widely with little agreement among clinicians as to the most effective manner of managing such care. A common practice involves loose intermaxillary fixation for the first one or two days following surgery. However, this practice does little more than prevent damage to the joint especially if the patient becomes nauseated after surgery. After removal of fixation it has been fairly common practice to initiate limited motion typically in rotation. Such procedures have ranged from having the patient put his thumb between the upper and lower incisors to guide him in measuring jaw opening and also to allow him to judge the desired degree of limitation. Recently, an apparatus capable of providing continuous passive motion in rotation, that is, the opening and closing of the mouth, has been available from Vitech, Inc. of Houston, Tex. and has been marketed under the trademark "Trans-Jaw". A product similar to the "Trans-Jaw" has been distributed by the Therabite Corporation of Bryn Mawr, Pa. and is referred to by the trademark "Therabite". The "Therabite" product is intended to provide rotational motion for the purpose of improving mandibular range of motion. These and other therapeutic methods and apparatus have been employed but with limited success. Many other conditions involving disorders of the temporomandibular joint have also been treated to less than satisfactory conclusions due to deficiencies in state of the art treatment methodology. Such conditions include both rehabilitation situations following arthroscopy, fractures and/or trauma, osteoarthritis and even relatively routine rehabilitation of stiff, painful jaw joints. In these conditions and in other conditions including open joint surgery such as arthroplasty, meniscectomy and total joint replacement, as examples, methodology relating to rehabilitation has been limited in part by a lack of understanding of the complexity of the general subject of temporomandibular joint disorders as well as a lack of progress in this area directed to truly effective rehabilitative procedures and apparatus capable of assisting in time practice of such procedures.
The present invention provides an effective therapeutic method and an apparatus capable of practice of the method, the invention providing a substantial advance in the art of rehabilitative care post-operatively, post-trauma and also in rehabilitative treatment of chronic and acute disorders involving the temporomandibular joint.